1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electrochemical cells and more particularly to a novel lead-hydrogen electrochemical cell.
2. Prior Art
During the 1960's, considerable activity was devoted to the development of electrochemical fuel cells. These primary type energy devices typically utilized hydrogen and oxygen as fuels and employed gas diffusion types of electrodes. In the early 1970's, experimenters refined hydrogen gas diffusion electrochemistry and coupled that while existing nickel oxide electrode technology or silver electrode technology to provide novel nickel-hydrogen and silver-hydrogen cells. The nickel-hydrogen cell was successful as an aerospace energy storage device. However, that cell is relatively costly per unit of energy provided by the cell. The silver-hydrogen cell has been less successful because of the high cost of the silver and because of technical problems which limit the life and ease of use of the cell.
Lead-acid electrochemical systems have been known for 100 years. They are of low cost and have reasonable performance, but have the disadvantages of low energy density and poor low temperature performance.
There remains a need for an improved electrochemical cell which is inexpensive to produce, has fewer technical problems than, for example, the silver-hydrogen cell and has higher specific energy density and superior performance characteristics than are exhibited by the lead-acid cell.